Lecture in the C-STAR series, by Borna Bonakdarpour, MD (Northwestern University), delivered on June 11th, 2020.

Dr Bonakdarpour's lab website: https://labs.feinberg.northwestern.edu/bonakdarpour/

Abstract:
Perturbations of the Language Network in Primary Progressive Aphasia

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a syndrome of progressive language decline due to neurodegenerative etiologies, such as Alzheimer disease and frontotemporal degeneration. Traditional aphasiology heavily relied on aphasia caused by stroke. However, research in PPA has created an opportunity to gain new knowledge about the language network and the effect of neurodegenerative disease on language processing. In this lecture I discuss how research on PPA has given us additional insight into the physiology of language network and how language is affected by cortical thinning (atrophy), and abnormal functional connectivity in PPA. Potential implications of our research for future interventions will also be discussed.